Chou Chou and Doc Scantlin of the Imperial Palm Orchestra
Laurel Fehrenbach, public programs assistant here at American Art, spoke with Doc Scantlin and Chou Chou from the Imperial Palm Orchestra about their upcoming performance at Take 5! The group will be performing Thursday, October 28, from 5 to 7 p.m. as part a three month big band celebration in honor of our exhibition, Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg .
Eye Level: Many of Rockwell’s works in the Telling Stories exhibition are from the 1930s and 1940s. What is it that you love so much about the music and style from this era?
Imperial Palm Orchestra: There is such a sense of tender wit and love of humanity in the work of Norman Rockwell. It’s the same with so much of the popular music and style of that period. We are so immersed in it, and have been for so many years, that it is very much in the here and now for us. It is our music and our style. It is all so normal and comfortable for us. At our shows we present the music we love in an authentic and, hopefully, entertaining way—just as it was performed in the nightclubs during that era. The costumes, vintage props, and our corny comic patter, are all included to help our audience experience what we consider the best of the golden age of American popular music. We want people to have fun! The style and music from this era is brilliant, passionate, and, above all, FUN!!!
EL: I’ve read that you only shop at vintage clothing stores and Chou Chou actually makes her own costumes! How do you keep your style so authentic to the period?
IPO: There’s a lot of resources we find inspiring: old movies, exhibits, period magazines, books on design, costume, art, culture, and architecture from the period. We’ve collected a lot of stuff over the years. We drive a beat-up 1937 Buick Limited. When we get time we’ll fix it up! We experience so much glamor and excitement in our lives as entertainers, sometimes at the most indescribably opulent events and venues around the world. In our private life we live simply in our little 1920s bungalow on the Chesapeake Bay. We know it’s a time-warp when people come to visit, but to us it’s just normal and we love it. We are both creative and good with our hands so we always have too many projects we are working on. And when everything is old you better be good at fixing it! We wear the period-style clothes appropriate for whatever we are doing. Whatever we can’t find Chou Chou can make. Chou Chou wears '40s dresses, aprons, heels, and, yes, red lipstick around the house. And I wear suits in the office or coveralls when working on the old cars. Once, for Halloween, I wore blue jeans, sneakers, and a baseball cap. I won first prize. No one recognized me!!
EL: What do you miss from that bygone era that has been lost in today’s society?
IPO: As much as we like to glamorize the past, things really don’t change that much. People still laugh and love and want to live happy lives. Each generation has its challenges and we move ahead, trying to figure it all out. We may live different lifestyles but there is still the entire spectrum of human experience to be had in any age in all its splendor and horror. They just did it in nicer clothes back then.
EL: You’ve been performing with the Imperial Palms Orchestra for a long time in the DC area and performed for some notable VIPs. How do you keep up your impressive energy?
IPO: The orchestra has been around since 1983. I’m 63 and Chou Chou is 56. That’s not old at all nowadays. A lot of people assume I am older because I appear to be from a different and older generation. A lot of people think Chou Chou is younger because she is such a glamor girl. None of that matters to us. What matters is that we have the energy and drive to make people happy because we keep our sense of play. It’s just like we are a couple of happy and playful kids, with a wonderful box of toys we can open up and share. Washington is a place of hard workers and serious thinkers who need a break now and then. We hope they never tire of playing with us!
EL: If you could perform music from a different time period, what would you choose?
IPO: We can and do add songs that delight us from other types of music now and then. Why not? We do not feel limited at all or confined by what may be expected of the Imperial Palms Orchestra. We are free to decide. It just so happens that this is what we want to do. This is what we LOVE to do.
